construction
Americannoun
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the act or art of constructing.
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the way in which a thing is constructed.
a building of solid construction.
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something that is constructed; a structure.
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the occupation or industry of building.
He works in construction.
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Grammar.
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the arrangement of two or more forms in a grammatical unit. Constructions involving bound forms are often called morphological, as the bound forms fif- and -teen. Those involving only free forms are often called syntactic, as the good man, in the house.
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a word or phrase consisting of two or more forms arranged in a particular way.
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a group of words or morphemes for which there is a rule in some part of the grammar.
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explanation or interpretation, as of a law, a text, or an action.
noun
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the process or act of constructing or manner in which a thing is constructed
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the thing constructed; a structure
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the business or work of building dwellings, offices, etc
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( as modifier )
a construction site
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an interpretation or explanation of a law, text, action, etc
they put a sympathetic construction on her behaviour
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grammar a group of words that together make up one of the constituents into which a sentence may be analysed; a phrase or clause
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geometry a drawing of a line, angle, or figure satisfying certain conditions, used in solving a problem or proving a theorem
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an abstract work of art in three dimensions or relief See also constructivism
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of construction
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin constrūctiōn-, stem of constrūctiō “placement together, building,” from constrūct(us) “put together” ( see construct) + -iō -ion
Explanation
The creation or building of something is construction. Depending on your budget, if you are building a new house, you will get the construction of a castle, a house, a cottage, or a shack. The word construction has its roots in the Latin word construere, which itself has roots in com-, meaning "together," and struere meaning "to pile up." In addition to the building of property, the noun construction also refers to the building trade itself. If you work for a company that builds things — from offices to houses and bridges to dams — you work in construction, whether you are a carpenter at the work site or the secretary who schedules the jobs.
Vocabulary lists containing construction
Engineering - Introductory
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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
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Engineering - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That means more will be considered for repowering, creating a pipeline of construction work.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Tesla is embarking on a massive construction spree that Musk characterized on a conference call as probably the United States' "fastest industrial scale up since World War Two."
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
South Korea’s economy slowed in the second quarter after robust first-quarter growth, but remained resilient as brisk chip exports offset weak private consumption and construction investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The 28-year-old, who works in public relations, and her husband, who works as a construction project manager at a real-estate company, paid $629,000 for the three-bedroom home.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
In some vaguely general fashion, they understood this, regarding the construction of the District of Columbia on the Potomac as a statement of Virginia’s enduring influence over the federal government.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
The only points of passage that have tollbooths are the Suez and Panama canals, both of which are artificial constructions that require maintenance.
From Barron's ● Apr. 9, 2026
At the same time, the mathematical foundations behind these constructions are highly advanced and demand careful analytical work.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 7, 2026
Still, out of deference to his wife, he mostly keeps his constructions confined to a single room downstairs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025
Family is like a tapestry, sewn together in a constant story despite different constructions and experiences.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
But those constructions stood upriver, at such places as Dendera, Edfu, and Philae.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.